"Medical Harm is probably one of the three leading causes of death."
- Dr. Peter Pronovost, M.D.

Most people associate hospitals with good things: physicians, nurses and
staff that will ease their loved ones' pain and help them on the road
to recovery. What if, however, your hospital actually caused new problems
and complications. A new Consumer Report rating based on a 2010 report
from the Department of Health and Human Services has shown that infections,
surgical mistakes and other medical harm contribue to the deaths of about
180,000 hospital patients in a year. This does not include the 1.4 million
who are seriously injured by the hospital care. Shocked yet? Well what
if we tell you that these statistics were only based on Medicare patients
alone.

Hospitals have a duty of care that they must uphold to the highest level.
They are dealing with sick patients with fighting immune systems that
simply cannot afford to have such high risk surroundings around them at
all times. Patients admit themselves into these hospitals that they believe
will cure them, but in turn, they end up leaving sicker and with more
complications then ever before. Rosemary Gibson, a patient-safety advocate
and author, states that just in this decade, more than 2.25 million Americans
will probably die from medical harm.

Although leading causes of death such as automobile accidents, plane crashes,
and cancer are documented very closely, there is a lack of information
and data concerning medical care in various hospitals around the nation.
For the first time, Consumer Reports rated 1,159 hospitals in 44 states
on their safety measures and the results were astounding. This study only
included 18 % of U.S. hospitals because the data on patient harm is still
not fully reported consistently nationwide. Hospitals rarely volunteer
their safety information which leads to a vague picture nationwide on
what needs to be done to make hospitals more safe.

Consumer Report focused on six categories to accurately rate each hospital:
Readmissions, communications, CT scanning, complications, and mortality.
This is based on the best data that they could find given that hospitals
do not like publicizing what really happens behind the closed doors. What
they found however were shocking statistics.

Some of the most well known hospitals had terrible safety scores. This
includes our very own New York Hospitals like New York Presbyterian with
a score of 32 out of 100, Mount Sinai Medical Center with a score of 30
out of 100, Harlem Hospital Center with a 20 out of a 100, and Kings County
Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York with a score of 24 out of 100. Our
neighbors in New Jersey at Kimball Medical Center in Lakewood, N.J. didn't
fair too nicely either with a score of 24 out of 100. With New York being
one of the most advanced and leading states in the nation, why is it that
the hospitals in the 'city that never sleeps' seems to be sleeping
when it comes to safety? Terrible things happen in almost every hospital,
but the important thing to note, is that safety precautions can be taken
so reckless mistakes don't occur anymore.

The Consumer Reports have New Yorkers in an uproar. Mount Sinai in New
York, a prestigious institution throughout the United States, seems to
have significantly more complications and higher mortality than the average
hospital. New York Presbyterian scores less than average on the rate of
complications that occur throughout the patient's stay. They also
scored less than average on their ability to communicate with patients
about their recovery and medications. This new report not only worries
the patient but also the many doctors who recommend patients go to certain
hospitals. They are just as confused about which hospitals provide the
best care because the hospitals' reputation does not seem to be upheld
by these statistics.

Some hospitals have responded to this report by installing safety initiatives
such as electronic prescribing to help prevent drug errors when prescribing
medicine and checklists to help prevent infections. Although there has
been some success with rates of central line bloodstream infections, which
have dropped by 32% since 2008 (according to National Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention), there needs to be an overall initiative put into
place at each hospital.

Although 'hospitals havent given safety the attention it deserves',
states Dr. Peter Pronovost, the public now knows of the safety concerns
and hospitals must now take an overall safety initiative if they do not
want their institutions bankrupt.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.

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